45|Aldfield to|Borobridge 7|2 08| 133| 14|Aldham pa|Neyland 6| 48| 407| 36|Aldham pa|Ipswich 8| 66| 318| 38|Aldingbourn pa|Bognor 5| 62| 833| 22|Aldingham pa|Lancaster 15| 277| 884| 21|Aldington[B] pa|New Romney 8| 60| 732| +--+-----------------+-------------------------+------+--------+ [A] ALDERMASTON. _Fairs_, May 6, July 7, for horses and cattle, and October 11, for pedlery. [B] ALDINGTON. Elizabeth Barton, commonly called the Holy Maid of Kent, a religious impostor, lived in the reign of Henry VIII. She was a servant at Aldington, and having been for a long time afflicted with convulsions, which distorted her limbs and countenance, and threw her body into the most violent agitations, acquired a power of counterfeiting the same appearances whenever she pleased. Richard Master, who then held this living, with other ecclesiastics, thinking her a proper instrument for their purpose, induced her to pretend that all she said and did, was by a supernatural impulse, and taught her to act her part in the most perfect manner. Thus she pretended to be honoured with visions; to hear heavenly voices and most ravishing melody; she declaimed against the wickedness of the times, against heresy and innovations; exhorting all persons to frequent the church, to hear masses, to make frequent confessions, and to pray to our lady, and all saints. This artful management, with her apparent piety, virtue, and austerity of life, completely deceived even Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher, and Archbishop Warham, the last of which appointed commissioners to examine her, to whom she was instructed to say, in her counterfeit trances, that she should never recover till she went to visit the image of the Virgin Mary, in a chapel dedicated to her in this parish, which was done. After that she pretended that she was called to be a nun, and the Archbishop being fully satisfied with the reports, had her placed in the nunnery of St. Sepulchre, Canterbury, where she alleged she had visions and revelations of a divine nature, so as to completely impose upon the public. The main object of the priests, her managers, was directed publicly to announce how God had revealed to her, "that in case the king should divorce Queen Catherine of Anjou, and take another wife during her life, his royalty would not be of a month's duration, but that he should die the death of a villain," which created considerable excitement, and much controversy: encouraged by the lenity of the government, the ecclesiastics in this conspiracy, resolved to publish the revelations of the nun throughout the kingdom. They had communicated them to the Pope's Ambassadors, and exhorted Queen Catherine to persist in her resolutions. At length this confederacy became a serious affair,